Ray Biggs was hired as the Sports Information Assistant for New Media in September 2018. Biggs’ duties encompass assisting the sports information office in all facets of its operation, with a significant focus towards enhancing the institution’s sports broadcasting efforts and strengthening publicity efforts for Utica’s 26 intercollegiate athletic teams.
Biggs is no stranger to the microphone, or to Utica. The 2024 DIII Hockey News National Broadcaster of the Year has been with the Pioneers since the Fall of 2011, and immediately established himself in a vital role at WPNR 90.7 FM as an undergraduate transfer student. It was at WPNR where Biggs began to realize his passion for sports broadcasting, as he began to call a variety of the college’s team sports. He became the consistent play-by-play voice of the men’s and women’s ice hockey programs almost instantly, a role he has held in some form each season since. In 2012-13, Biggs enjoyed broadcasting an NCAA tournament appearance in each season as part of a historic year for the department, as field hockey, men’s ice hockey, and softball all reached the national tournament stage.
Utica men’s hockey’s run to the NCAA Division III National Semifinals in Lake Placid provided an important opportunity for the department, and for Biggs. As his first trip to the championship site, the experience laid the groundwork for him to make trips to the Division III Frozen Four an annual occurrence as one of Division III hockey’s most ardent ambassadors. He has not missed a men’s national semifinal or championship game in the tournament since attending with Utica and has attended each year through his work with D3hockey.com, where he was managing editor from 2014 to 2019. At D3hockey.com, Biggs was responsible for updating and maintaining a vital national resource for NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey, including information on NCAA selections and NCAA tournament coverage. He continues to attend Division III Frozen Fours as a broadcaster, as he works each year as a color analyst for Raycom Sports and Turner Sports on their NCAA.com broadcasts of the men’s and women’s ice hockey national championships.
Biggs also returned to Lake Placid in August of 2013 for his first taste of international hockey broadcasting experience with the US Under-18 Women’s National Team.
After his graduation in Fall of 2013, he continued to call Pioneer hockey for WPNR while gathering up other opportunities in the field. He spent the next year as a contributor at ESPN Radio Utica-Rome, along with broadcasting Rome Free Academy sports during the 2014-15 school year on WKAL 1450AM locally. The following season, Biggs moved the bulk of his broadcasting efforts to ESPN Radio Utica-Rome, where he became the commercial radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Pioneers in Football, Basketball, and Ice Hockey, along with a schedule of local high school sports.
In Fall 2017, Biggs brought his broadcasting efforts with the Pioneers back in-house through a partnership between WPNR and the Athletic Department. He also was continually employed by the athletic department as event staff between 2013 and 2017, and as a building supervisor for the Hutton Dome from 2016 to 2018. His event duties included event management opportunities in several sports, primarily as a public address announcer and scoreboard operator. He has been the primary public address announcer for the Baseball program since the Spring of 2013.
He has also been known for his work in local amateur baseball. From 2012 to 2019, he has been the public address announcer for the New York State American Legion Baseball Championships, and was a broadcaster and public address announcer for the Utica Brewers and Blue Sox from 2013 to 2018, and announced for future major league All-Star Cedric Mullins.
In addition to his work at Utica, he also works doing public relations for a local school district.
Biggs was also the Sports Information Director for the United Collegiate Hockey Conference for the first four years of its existence. He led the league’s publicity efforts, updated the league’s website, and assisted conference commissioner Chuck Mitrano in daily operations of the league.
He continues to work as a freelance broadcaster throughout the year, including the NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Championships. He also accepts a freelance assignment each year with WKTV NewsChannel 2 as the play-by-play broadcaster for their coverage of the New York SASH Teddy Bear Toss. He has also called the NJCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship tournament, the NJCAA Region III Baseball Tournament, and a host of contests for nearby Hamilton College. He has also been the play-by-play voice of Utica City FC in the Major Arena Soccer League for five seasons, and has recently served as a reserve broadcaster for the Utica Comets, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils.
He is a 2013 graduate of Utica, where he received his degree in Public Relations with a concentration in Sports Communication. He was an intern in the Sports Information Office in the Fall of 2013, and simultaneously served as WPNR-FM Sports Director and Sports Editor of the Utica Tangerine during the 2012-13 Academic Year.
Biggs currently resides in Utica.
